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Faculty of Music

QuartetFest just a few weeks away

Chamber music series runs May 20 to June 6

Apr 28/08

"We want people who are inspiring, innovative, and
talented," says Simon Fryer, explaining the qualities that he and his colleagues
in the Penderecki String Quartet (PSQ) look for when they organize QuartetFest.
Cellist in PSQ and Coordinator of QuartetFest, Fryer is speaking about, not
only the student participants, but also the guest instructors who have attended
Laurier’s chamber music workshop and concert series every spring for the past
12 years—the 2008 festival runs May 20 to June 6.

This year’s guest instructors are the Arianna Quartet, who
are in residence at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, the Hyperion Quartet, who are in
residence at San Diego State University,
the Silver Birch Quartet, who arrive from Sudbury,
and pianist Jeannette Koekkoek, who resides in Holland. All will perform in concert during
the festival. "These guest artists aren’t just excellent performers.
They’re also excellent instructors with a solid record of working with
students" Fryer says.

As for students, four quartets and two piano trios are
participating in this year’s festival, some arriving from Newfoundland,
Connecticut, and Texas. The Herzog/McEvoy Piano Trio,
recipients of the Penderecki String Quartet Chamber Music Prize, will also
participate in the workshop and perform in the festival’s closing concert.The selection process of students for
QuartetFest is strict with applications arriving from around the world—last
year, a quartet from Mexico
participated—and Laurier’s own students are well-represented annually. All
participants are eligible to take QuartetFest for University credit,
simultaneously advancing their practical music-making skills while working
toward their university degree. Each student group is given a studio for the
duration of the festival, a minimum of three hours of coaching per week, and
four hours of master class so that by QuartetFest’s end, students will have had
the opportunity to work with all at the festival.

Fryer is especially pleased that the 2008 roster of instructors
includes QuartetFest alumni as the Arianna Quartet’s David Gilham, the Hyperion
Quartet’s Amanda & Jonathan Brin, and Jamie Arrowsmith from the Silver
Birch Quartet all attended the festival years ago as students.

The festival concerts this year offer an opportunity to
experience the seldom heard (a Bartok Piano Quintet), the Canadian (John
Weinzweig and Robert LeMay), and the sublime (Mendelssohn’s Octet Op. 20), but
Fryer advises one should not pick and choose. Rather, one should compare.
"QuartetFest gives the concertgoer a chance to see various quartets back
to back which gives the opportunity to see different approaches. There’s loads
of music performed by lots of different people in just a few days—all giving
the listener a rich, layered experience."

Fryer expects those making the music will also gain a lot in
a short amount of time. "The overall goal of the festival is for all of us
to become better musicians and better people," he says. "Chamber
music teaches you to accommodate other people while sharing a goal. To make
this type of music come alive, everyone has to participate at maximum strength.
Obviously, people have different talents, so the challenge is to move forward
as a group. In a short amount of time, you learn an enormous amount about how
to work and live well with other people."